1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to devices which inform persons of the time that dosages of medication are to be taken under a programmed time schedule to assure compliance with a medication regimen. More particularly, the invention relates to devices of the aforesaid type which produce a record of the person's compliance with a medication regimen.
2. Description of the Prior Art
The self-administration of prescribed medications has been and is a problem throughout the world. It is well known that the response to prescription medications would be much greater if persons in fact follow the directions, including dosage schedule, for taking prescription medicines specified by physicians.
Surveys indicate that 3% to 5% of hospital admissions are the result of adverse drug reactions. At least one publication has stated that the misprescription of medications by the aged may be responsible for 30,000 deaths and 1.5 million hospital admissions per year. The cost of hospital admissions caused by the improper taking of medications is conservatively estimated to be at least $1 billion per year and, in fact, may be much higher when lost employment and other indirect costs are considered.
Adverse drug reactions are directly related to the number and frequency of doses of medication which are taken. The inability to take drugs in accordance with prescribed routines may in fact substantially increase adverse drug reactions.
It is a well-known fact that the elderly are especially prone to not carefully following the instructions for the taking of medication. The consequences of not properly following the instructions for taking a medication can be especially harmful to the elderly because of the likelihood that they are taking multiple prescription medications which can interact adversely if not properly taken and further that the level of general physical infirmity in the elderly reduces their ability to withstand the effects of improperly taking medication.
A common way of generating a record of a medication regimen is to manually record the identity of the medication and time and date of taking each dosage. While this system can produce a satisfactory record to facilitate a physician's evaluation of compliance with a medication regimen, it suffers from the disadvantage that it is only as good as the thoroughness and accuracy of the record maker. Moreover, it is difficult to incorporate these manually generated records into a data base and/or a person's medical file because of the difficulty in reading handwriting.
Systems are known for dispensing medication under the control of a timer. Exemplary of these systems are those described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,382,688, 4,360,125, 4,293,845, 4,275,384, 4,258,354 and 4,223,801.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,382,688 describes a medicinal dispenser having an electronic timer which is used to remind the patient when it is time to take a medication stored in a container associated with the timer.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,360,125 discloses a medication inventory device which has a programmed timer. The memory stores the time that an alarm to take the medication is generated and the time that the person has access to medication by opening a compartment. A printer may be used to create a record of the data stored in the memory.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,293,845 discloses a timer for controlling the taking of dosages of medication for multiple persons. The system totalizes the number of dosages which have been taken by each person.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,275,384 discloses a portable medicine cabinet with a timer for informing the person when it is time to take any one of a plurality of medications which are stored within the cabinet. This system includes individual indicators in proximity to compartments provided within the cabinet for storing medications to indicate that it is time to take that particular medication.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,258,354 discloses a portable alarm device for indicating that it is time for a person to take medications stored within a plurality of compartments provided within the portable alarm device. The times for taking the individual medications may be programmed by a strip which is perforated at the hours that each of a plurality of medications are desired to be taken by the patient.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,223,801 discloses an automatic periodic pharmaceutical preparation dispenser for alerting persons when particular medications are to be taken.
The assignee of the present invention sold a medication clock more than a year ago which had some of the capabilities of the medication clock illustrated in FIG. 4. Specifically, this medication clock had a microprocessor including programmed clock with alarm, patient acknowledgment switches and associated storage latches, entry switches, multifunction mode switch, random access memory and read only memory. The program resident in that system operated exclusively to control the clock function and did not have any output function or capability of generating records of any type. The random access memory recorded the time that each dosage of medication was taken. This medication clock did not have the capability of permitting the taking of medications on an as needed basis or on demand ahead of scheduled time under control of the programmed clock with alarm.